5. spent all day reading my book club book

Well, not exactly all day. I went to work, performed my job, came home and walked the dog, arranged for a friend to come over and play with my son, and then I spent the rest of the day (except when my husband and daughter came home at dinner time and I heated up leftovers and ate with the family) reading my book club book. At least three hours.  Still, it seemed like such a sheer indulgence. I believe it had lots to do with the temperature that day. It was one of those perfect spring days when the air is warm, but not too hot, and there is a periodic breeze that has the cool refreshment of a drink of water. Spring flowers are blooming, and I should be working in my garden, but this book needs to be read by tomorrow’s meeting and I still have over 300 pages to read. Yes, yes, I know there is no possible way I can finish it. But I really am enjoying the book, it is one of those I would never have chosen or known about if one of the other ladies had not chosen for us, but now I feel I know the characters so well. I have lived with them and grown with them and suffered with them and I want to know if fate will ever be kind to them, or if they are doomed to continue the hard life that has been their lot so far.


It was simply delicious sitting on the back deck in the shade and I even painted my toenails and read while the coats were drying. This is only a once or twice per year procedure for me---a necessity at this time of the year when sandals are pulled out and toes are in the public eye. I am not a woman who is friends with nail polish. (first of all, to have that block of uninterrupted time when you are unable to do anything else at all for 15-20 minutes while your hands and/or feet are totally out of commission? Yeah, sure) I am a woman who is using her hands constantly and her feet nearly as often. A woman who loves to go barefoot, whose hands are either in water or dirt or touching fabric or children or paper or a keyboard. I am a sewer, a gardener, a typer, a cleaner, a cook, a craftsman, a deck power-washer, a drywall joint compound-sander, etc, etc, depending on the project of the moment. Who wants to worry about their fingernails?


In the end, I did not finish the book before the club meeting time. But I will some day. I met with my lady friends, mostly new acquaintances since this was our initial meeting. We talked, discussed, chatted and drank wine. We agreed, disagreed, voted and gossiped. We ate lemon squares and chose our next books and meeting times. And then a wonderful thing happened--as everyone was saying their good byes the hostess asked me to stay longer and talk. So I did. We drank another bottle of wine and talked and talked, and I felt like I made a new friend. Just the beginning, still getting to know each other’s stories, but we found some common ground, and found that we relate in many ways, both of us knowing we are more comfortable as part of a duet than a crowd.
 And then I walked the short distance to my home, and quietly snuck inside, feeling like a teenager who was out past curfew and does not want to wake his parents. But the kids stayed sleeping, and my husband was still up reading the newspaper in bed.


Getting home tipsy at 11:15 on a school night! My, my! It’s all part of . . .



keeping a grip, Deb